liuzhou

42. 水油堆 (shuǐ yóu duī) 柳江 (liǔ jiāng) is a small market town and county, just to the south of Liuzhou city and part of the prefecture. It is an agricultural area inhabited mainly by the Zhuang, and is relatively poor. It has one ‘speciality’, although I struggle to see what is so special about it. The dish is said to have originated in 洛满镇 (luò mǎn zhèn) – Luoman Town in the county – although it can be found throughout Liujiang and beyond. It is mainly made road side by elderly people scratching out a living. To set up in business you only need a pot, some water, oil and glutinous rice flour, some sesame seeds and a heat source, usually charcoal. A basic dough is made from the flour and water and this is formed into balls which are then fried in the oil. Finally, the balls are rolled in sesame seeds and you are done. More upmarket versions (not much more) may come with a simple sugar syrup. These balls are known as 水油堆 (shuǐ yóu duī), literally ‘water oil piles’ and are often sold outside schools. The local authorities declared them intangible cultural assets of the county although I don’t see how you can eat anything intangible. Apparently, the number of vendors is falling and the trade in terminal decline, as younger generations find better ways to survive.

Lunch: 白切鸡 (bái qiē jī) - White Cut Chicken 莴笋肉 (wō sǔn ròu) Celtuce with Pork 青菜 (qīng cài) Green Vegetables (unspecified) 米饭 (mǐ fàn) Rice

I've pretty much established a routine breakfast here - century egg and pork congee and a couple of pork baozi buns. Today, I decided to have a minor change. 青菜肉粥 (qīng cài ròu zhōu) - Green vegetable (unidentified) with pork congee. It was OK, but I'll be going back to normal tomorrow. I had the two buns as well.

If you are discreet about it, it should be OK. It's the idiots with the DSLRs and long lenses who stand on chairs to get the "best angle" that should be shot. I have three DSLRs and several lenses, but only ever take restaurant shots using my cell phone (without flash). Respect other customers and your guests and I don't see a problem.

41. 北海鱼排 (běi hǎi yú pái) – 北海沙场虫 (běi hǎi shā cháng chóng) @Anna N led me to think of this when she commented on the Yulin Niuba beef jerky v. Biltong. I think you’ll see why. This is 鱼排 (yú pái) and comes from Beihai (北海 - běi hǎi) the seafood capital on Guangxi’s south coast. It literally translates as ‘fish steak’, but although it is fish, it isn’t what I’d call steak. What is sold as Beihai Yupai (北海鱼排 - běi hǎi yú pái) is a snack food for nibbling. It makes a reasonable beer food, too. It consists of slivers or flakes of 马面鱼 (mǎ miàn yú), or ‘leatherjacket fish’. (The Chinese name translates as ‘horse face fish’, Horse-Face, being one of the two guardians of the underworld in Chinese mythology). The fish meat is cured with a sugar and salt mix, then dried. Finally the pieces of fish are coated in white sesame seeds. It tastes quite sweet and is rather chewy. Sharpen your dentures before tackling. There is only a slight fishiness and I would prefer them a bit saltier. If you don’t fancy that, you could always try Beihai’s other speciality, 沙肠虫 (shā cháng chóng), literally ‘sand intestine worms’. These 20 cm / 8 inch long, fat, pink, intestine-resembling worms live in the sand on the beach and are dug up every day, turned inside out to be cleaned and then scalded for your culinary pleasure. I’m told they are delicious, umami-rich, crisp, yet tender inside and are pleasant in a bowl of worm congee or simply stir fried. I’ve never eaten them, but would definitely try. The opportunity has not yet arisen. Outside of Beihai region, they are sold dried, but are expensive and are difficult to source online as the characters involved are also used in the names of veterinary intestinal worm cures. That’s all that’s coming up in my searches so far. I do have a good friend who lives in Beihai. I may have to call in a favour. Also, in Beihai, 招潮蟹(zhāo cháo xiè), tiny fiddler crabs are pounded with salt to make a fermented condiment to eat with white-cut chicken, raising that dish to new heights. That I have sampled with delight.

Yes, I meant I wondered about the availability of the Guilin version. I knew others were avaiable from Amazon. Bit of a tautological description on those jars. Beancurd Tofu? Tofu is beancurd and vice versa. Except it's Doufu in Chinese. Tofu is the Japanese, but has been adopted in English.

Dinner 木耳炒鸡肉 (mù ěr chǎo jī ròu) - Black Woodear Fungus Stir fried Chicken - served with rice. Not bad, but some chilli would have lifted it.

When I started out on this topic, I thought there may be around ten posts, but I keep thinking of more local specialities. Before launching into the 40th post, I think I need to clear up some potential confusion in some previous posts, so please forgive a short but hopefully informative pause before continuing. Several times I have mentioned that a town is part of a city, or even that a county is part of a city. The confusion arises from China’s administration system. Like all five autonomous regions* and 23 provinces, Guangxi is split into prefectures, in our case, at present, fourteen of them. Each prefecture is named for and governed by a city. Guangxi Prefectures - Low resolution Pubic Domain Image So, Liuzhou Is a city, but also a large prefecture encompassing several towns, counties and villages. Sanjiang, for example, the town where the Qingming tea I mentioned comes from is part of Liuzhou prefecture, but is miles away from the city, beside the Hunan border. Other fairly large towns in Liuzhou include Rongshui, Rong’an, Luzhai etc. All three are also counties. I dread people asking me the population of Liuzhou. It depends what they mean by Liuzhou. The same happens in all the other prefectures, so the touristy Yangshuo is part of Guilin prefecture but is a town in its own right. Wuming, home of the lemon duck is a town, but also in Nanning. * Xinjiang, Tibet, Inner Mongolia, Ningxia and Guangxi. There is nothing really autonomous abut them. Hope that helps. And now, on with the show. 40. 桂林 (guì lín fǔ rǔ) Another Guilin speciality, sold at the airport and every hotel and tourist spot is 桂林腐乳 (guì lín fǔ rǔ), spicy fermented tofu. In fact, Guilin airport sells little else. Furu is made all over China (including Taiwan) but the Guilin version is considered to be of top quality. There are basically two types of furu, basically white and red. Many people make the mistake of thinking that he red must have the chilli on it. Wrong! Both are spicy, the red colour of that variety comes from a red fungus, Monascus purpureus, which grows on rice. Both types of furu go through three stages of manufacture. First soft tofu is cubed and left in a controlled temperature for approximately 5 to 7 days to grow a mould, then it is heavily salted to exclude microbial contaminants. This also helps the tofu form a firmer crust, although some versions are softer than others. Finally it is finished using a brine flavoured with chilli, other spices and sugar in addition to the salt. Some manufacturers also add rice wine or baijiu (strong grain liquor). Precise recipes are closely guarded. The whole process can take up to three months. The final product is often compared to a funky blue cheese, at least in texture. It is spicy and umami rich, the latter being more pronounced in the red version. I often drop a cube or two into my morning congee for a wake-up shout. It goes well stir-fried with leafy greens. I particularly like it with spinach, but go for your own preference. It is used, too in some marinades. I’ve known seasoned veterans to eat it in salads like cheese. I always have a jar in the fridge, but it keeps forever unrefrigerated. Soft Guilin Furu Furu is widely available on Amazon etc and in Asian markets, although I’m not sure of the availability of the Guilin version. My internet access is limited in the hospital where I currently find myself. Slow wi-fi hinders my VPN, blocking Google etc. Any feedback on international availability would be welcomed.

39. 龟苓膏 (guī líng gāo) Back in the ninth post, so long ago, I mentioned 梧州 (wú zhōu) as being the Guangxi city where the snakes are found, I failed to mention its other famous export. Guilinggao (龟苓膏 guī líng gāo) is a herbal jelly used both as a medicine and as an ingredient in desserts. It is also known as turtle jelly. Guilinggao The preparation originally included the powdered shell of a type of turtle, the “Golden Coin Turtle” (Cuora trifasciata; 金钱龟 jīn qián guī), hence the name which translates as “turtle fungus paste”. This turtle is now prohibitively expensive and so, today, when turtle is still used, the shells of more common turtles are used instead. However, many modern examples contain no turtle shell. Instead they rely on the other ingredients which include extracts from various herbs, most importantly smilax glabra, a plant related to sarsaparilla. Guilinggao is black or dark brown in color. Naturally, it is slightly bitter, although sweeteners such as honey can be added to make it more palatable. Guilinggao Dessert Relatively inexpensive canned guilinggao with pop tops and little plastic spoons for immediate consumption can be found in all supermarkets and corner shops. If you want to make it yourself, you can buy powdered shell, 龟苓膏粉 (guī líng gāo fěn), sometimes labelled in English as “Tortoise Powder”. Guilinggao Powder I’ve seen guilinggao, but not the powder in London’s Chinatown, so it may be more widely available. Despite the similar sounding name, it has no connection with Guilin.

38. 西山茶 (xī shān chá) / 柳州清明茶 (liǔ zhōu qīng míng chá) ++ 贵港 (guì gǎng) Guigang is a city in the east of Guangxi, known and valued for its beautiful lotus blossoms and for their 莲藕 (lián ǒu) roots (actually rhizomes) which are a favourite vegetable in these parts, turning up stir-fried, in soups and hotpots and even candied. Lotus Root One county town of Guigang, Guiping lies on the Tropic of Cancer and there is a Cancer Theme Park, which sounds ominous. Xishan Scenic Area is located 1 kilometer (0.6 miles) from Guiping and is famous for its strange stones, elegant woods, sweet springs and is important locally for its fragrant green tea - 西山茶 (xī shān chá), literally ‘west mountain tea’. In fact, this is one of only two Guangxi grown teas I regularly come across. I’m not a big tea drinker, but I do cook with the local Xishan tea, especially stir fried shrimp with green tea. Xishan Green Tea Xishan Green Tea The Guigang area is also now known for its 山竹 (shān zhú), mangosteen crop, a relatively recent innovation and for chufa or tiger nuts, Cyperus esculentus, 油莎豆 (yóu suō dòu), used in TCM as well as less often in hotpots and soups. Mangosteens Back in Liuzhou prefecture, tea is grown in large quantities in 三江县 (sān jiāng xiàn), Sanjiang county which lies up against the border with Hunan. 三江绿茶 (sān jiāng lǜ chá) Sanjiang Green Tea The most prized in 清明茶 (qīng míng chá), Qingming Tea. Qingming (literally ‘clear and bright’ is the ancestor worship festival sometimes known as 'Tomb Sweeping Festival', on which people go to clean up graves and generally pay their respects. It is taken quite seriously and marked by a public holiday.) 柳州清明茶 (liǔ zhōu qīng míng chá) is picked in Spring around the time of 清明 (qīng míng), the 1st to 5th of the 5th month of the lunisolar calendar, which usually occurs in April by our calendar, and so the name. The most valuable (as it’s the newest) is picked before the festival, the second is picked during the festival and the third after it’s all over. The cost of the tea can be 100 times more at the beginning than the end of the season. Liuzhou Qingming Tea I’m not pretending Guangxi has the finest teas in the world, or even China, but they do make a reasonably priced brew, I’m told. And it’s nice to sip it while overlooking the terraces where it is grown

This has been clarified. The whole cucumber is salt fermented which makes it collapse in on itself as moisture is extracted, so it finally looks like it is just skin. Hence the name.

37. 八角 (bā jiǎo) Not many people know that. You may have a bit of Guangxi in your pantry! 八角 (bā jiǎo) – star anise is native to the region and 85% of the world’s supply is grown right here in Guangxi. Local farmers got a bonus in 2009 with the arrival of swine flu. The main treatment is the antiviral Tamiflu, of which the active ingredient is shikimic acid which cannot easily be synthesised. Instead, the shikimic acid is extracted from star anise. The price leapt by 30% in May of that year. As well as being a common ingredient in Chinese cooking (it is a main contributor to five-spice powder), star anise has long been used in Traditional Chinese Medicine and many Chinese people are eating it now as a flu preventative. In 2009, the Chinese Health Minister, Chen Zhu suggested that people add star anise when cooking pork because it would “certainly be a good treatment for the flu”. Idiot.

36. 钦州 (qīn zhōu) Last night I was chatting with a friend in 钦州 (qīn zhōu) - Qinzhou, a city on the south coast of Guangxi, near Beihai, which I mentioned earlier. The two cities are sea food central for much of southern mainland China. However Qinzhou is also known for a few other things. Indeed it is generally known for its fruit, especially lychees and it’s known for its wax apples. No, not fake apples made from wax; wax apples are a type of fruit, but they aren’t apples and no wax is involved. Their unpronounceable scientific name, or rather that of the plant on which they grow is Syzygium samarangense. Not surprisingly they are more usually referred to as wax apples although Java apple, Semarang rose-apple and wax jambu are also sometimes used in English. In Chinese, 莲雾 (lián wù). Wax Apples They are native to Malaysia and nearby islands, but are now found across the tropics. They are about the size of smallish apples and roughly the same shape, but more pointed. The taste and scent, though, are nothing like apples. They range in colour from a light greenish-white to almost black, but the majority are red – like red apples. Inside is a thread-like core containing a seed. Before serving, this is normally removed from below, while leaving the fruit otherwise intact. They taste very mild (almost like unripe pears) and slightly sweet and sour. Some people say the texture is like that of watermelon. Not my view. My friend also mentioned a couple of other things, but they were generally Guangxi rather than Qinzhou specific, but she soon hit paydirt with one of the strangest things I have encountered. Apparently, in Qinzhou, the local populace have a thing for 酸黄瓜皮 (suān huáng guā pí) - Preserved Cucumber Skins. This salty delicacy is eaten with congee. What they do with the rest of the cucumber, she didn’t know or wouldn't tell. Preserved Cucumber Skins Most strange!

I can get all five for less than $20! $14 USD* to be precise! * as at today's exchange rate

@SLB's comment could be taken either way. We'll have to wait to see if he or she chooses to clarify. In the meantime, may I say that duck and ginger would raise no eyebrows here. It's a common pairing, as has been pointed out. In fact, there are two such dishes on the app. For the record the duck dishes listed as of today are: Stir-fried duck with pickled ginger Stir-fried duck with green chilli pepper Stir-fried duck with new crop ginger Stir-fried duck with sweet bamboo shoots Stir-fried duck with black wood-ear fungus I expected more comments on the 'peanuts with pig's tail soup', to be honest!

Why not?

Lunch： 辣子鸡 (là zi jī) Chilli Chicken (again). Seem to be out of red chillies. Only green in this. Highly inauthentic. 蛋饺 (dàn jiǎo) Pork Dumplings with Egg Wrappers (also again). 青菜 (qīng cài) Greenery 米饭 (mǐ fàn) Rice Dinner: 清蒸鲫鱼 (qīng zhēng jì yú) Steamed Crucian Carp 青菜 (qīng cài) Greenery 米饭 (mǐ fàn) Rice

35. 玉林菜 (yù lín cài) 玉林 (yù lín), Yulin city, in south-east Guangxi leans heavily towards the Cantonese in its cuisine. It has gained some unfair notoriety thanks to the animal rights movements’ free world-wide publicity for its annual dog meat festival. The dog festival isn’t a dog festival and is of little importance in the city, where most people never eat dog. I have written about this before, so won’t repeat myself. Instead I’ll link to what I wrote, then more usefully mention what Yulin is really famous for. Real 玉林菜 (yù lín cài) – Yulin Food. No. 1 is beef, particularly a type of beef jerky known as 牛巴 (niú bā). This is sold all over China. It comes in packets with a little soy sauce or in a dry version. I prefer the former. 牛巴 (niú bā) - Yulin Sauced Beef Jerky 牛巴 (niú bā) Dry Yulin 牛巴 (niú bā) Whether it comes from regular cattle or water buffalo is not openly discussed, but it is good stuff. Another notable speciality of the city is a unique form of noodle dish. 酸菜鱼 (suān cài yú) is a popular Sichuan dish of local carp in a broth with pickled mustard greens. In Yulin, they have evolved the dish and serve it with rice noodles as the local twist. And it works! Sold in hole-in-the-wall shacks and small restaurants, it is a popular snack, lunch or even breakfast. 玉林酸菜粉 - Yulin Fish Noodles with Pickled Mustard Greens The smaller town of Rongxian near Yulin is the home of 杨贵妃 (yáng guì fēi) (719-756), a noted Tang Dynasty beauty and consort of the Emperor. Her story is here. It is said that her favourite dish was pork braised with 柚子 皮 (yòu zi pí) pomelo skin, pomelo being another local speciality. The skin requires extensive preparation and soaking to make it palatable, but the finished dish is memorable. Dried pomelo skin is available, too. Unfortunately, Ms. Yang came to a sticky end. 柚子 - Pomelo If you don't fancy that, the pomelos (柚子 - yòu zi) are great without the skin!

34. 区域性菜系 (qū yù xìng cài xì) In contrast to their generally adverse attitude to foreign cuisines, the locals have no such compunction about food from other regions of China. Indeed Guangxi cuisine has been based on taking on what it fancies from other 区域性 (qū yù xìng cài) regional cuisine and making it their own. This continues. Funds permitting, I can find grub from all over this large land. From Xinjiang to Shanghai; from Yunnan to Heilongjiang. There are restaurant in Liuzhou from almost everywhere (Tibet is the obvious exception). Most hotel restaurants are Cantonese, catering to the business people coming in from Hong Kong, but there are a few very expensive Cantonese independents. 金河軒 Cantonese Restaurant I seldom trouble them. Overpriced and under-flavoured, if you ask me. That said, there is one chain place, Kong Oh! in their version of English, that is just OK and not crazily priced. Their roast goose is good. Sichuan is well represented, with the locals drawn by the spicy experience, so I’m not short of my mapo doufu fix. I have to mention in passing a long gone Sichuan place that had really good food. They also had a bizarre gimmick. Bald waitresses! One follicley challenged young lady told me that the waitresses received a handsome increase in renumeration if they shaved their heads. She also said she wore a wig when not at work, but wasn't worried as her hair would always grow back. Hunan, too is represented. For years, the main Hunan restaurant was a bit of a dump with great food. The biggest problem was the huge portraits of Mao, a Hunan native, covering its walls. A few years ago it relocated across the road to a more upmarket venue and in the process, Mao got dumped. 韶山 (sháoshān) - Shaoshan was Mao''s hometown in Hunan. The restaurant is named after the town Shanghai gets a look in for its soup dumplings. That's all this small restaurant does. 才哥汤包馆 - Caige Soup Dumpling Shop And from the best food city in China we have a great Xi'an restarant. 西安好吃管 - Xi'an Good Taste Food North-west China is well represented with Xinjiang Muslim food as is Lanzhou, home of hand-pulled noodles. We also have good Xi’an cooking. Saieid Muslim Restaurant (from Xinjiang) 兰州拉面 (lán zhōu lā miàn) - Lanzhou Hand-Pulled Noodles from Gansu Province Even Heilongjiang province in the frozen far north-east bordering Siberia gets a look-in with its great dumpling (and more) restaurant, Harbin Jiaozi King. 哈尔滨饺子王 (hā ěr bīn jiǎo zi wáng) - Harbin Jiaozi King But at the end of the day, the locals like their familiar comfort foods and head to places like this specialising in Liuzhou and Guilin dishes. Liu-Gui Restaurant or even better, a bowl of noodles while perched on a plastic stool in the street.

There are large numbers of foreigners working in the major cities such as Beijing, Shanghai etc (or were pre-Covid), but they are essentially unstable enclaves. People come on short-term work contracts and maybe stay a year or two at most. China has never encouraged immigration. I am very unusual - in more ways than one. The only exception I can think of is the approx 2 milion population of ethnic Koreans mainly in Jilin province, bordering N. Korea, but they've been there for hundreds of years. It doesn't really compare. Liuzhou has very few foreigners, mostly Asian and most of those are students, so not prime users of restaurants. There is no cohesive community of foreigners. I only really know two foreigners in town - one American with a Chinese wife, and a German woman. I rarely see either of them. To survive, any restaurant must appeal to the locals, not the handful of foreigners, and the locals just aren't that interested unless it's American fast food.

33. 外国食品 (wài guó shí pǐn) I’ve long thought that a nation’s cuisine is defined in part by what they don’t eat, as much as by what they do. Despite sharing a border with Vietnam, very little Vietnamese cuisine (my favourite) makes its way across. Loads of fruit is imported, but not the cuisine. Generally, 外国食品 (wài guó shí pǐn), foreign food, is hard to find – even from our nearest neighbour. However, I’m convinced quite a lot has made the journey in the other direction. A couple of pseudo-Vietnamese places opened a while back around town, they all only did one dish – the same one dish. That was bánh cuốn, the Vietnamese rice noodle rolls with minced pork, fish sauce, vegetables and herbs etc. Some of my more adventurous acquaintances visited some of these places and were very disappointed. Bánh Cuốn - Liuzhou “It’s just Mandarin: 肠粉 (cháng fěn) / Cantonese: 腸粉 (cheung fun), with stuff on it” they complained in their language of choice. It turned out that all of these places were Chinese owned, but the proprietors thought to apply some added value by pretending to be Vietnamese. They have all gone. In the short lived 越南螃蟹腿 (yuè nán páng xiè tuǐ) - Vietnam Crab Leg restaurant, the crab legs may have been Vietnamese; the management and chefs weren’t. And not one of these “Vietnamese” places ever offered me phở or bánh xèo! 越南螃蟹腿 (yuè nán páng xiè tuǐ) - Vietnam Crab Leg However, it is reasonably certain that 腸粉 (cheung fun) was taken into Vietnam by the Chinese and slowly Vietnamized. It is, after all, virtually the same apart from the condiments and garnishes. This type of Chinese owned and run ‘foreign’ food place is something I have experienced before. One Thai restaurant in town only ever sold Chinese food, but with half a lime on top of each dish! There wasn’t a Thai in the building. That said, we have had a couple of good Thai restaurants, but again they didn’t last long. The Malaysian restaurant didn’t last 6 months. Japanese came and went. Korean the same. Despite their noted tendency to eat everything, in fact, many Chinese diners are very conservative and very nationalistic. Or they try once and move on. The Italian restaurant in the Radisson Blu hotel with a real Italian chef didn’t last. Too different and wildly expensive. People just wanted noodles and thought risotto was an abomination. The one time I went, a mid-week lunch time, my companion and I were the only customers. One French-ish place, not the first, clings on. Only the foreign fast food places seem to last – unfortunately. I might have to open a fish and chip shop. Huangji Vietnam Noodle Rolls (Bánh Cuốn) - Liuzhou

@KennethT I just measured my breakfast baozi - 10cm / 4 inches. It is similar to those I photographed for the Guangxi Gastronomy topic. Why I happen to have a tape measure in hospital, I'll leave to the mists of obscurity. Now the nurses are giving me strange looks.

There is no definitive recipe as such. It does tend to be a 'fridge clearing' dish, but this version was just mean. I would normally expect to find some lean pork slivers, some vegetable other than onion*, maybe carrot slivers or Chinese black fungus and certainly not just one bean sprout. The over-cooked egg is just bizarre. I've never been served anything like it. Cheapest protein, I suppose. And it would be seasoned with soy sauce. *Someone in that kitchen loves onions. They turn up in everything. They aren't that common in everyday cooking.

It's definitely tastier than the medicine.

No. Bigger. Nearer to 4 inch. Ah! Well, yes. Again different places tend to go for a similar look. All the baozi in Shanghai look similar but different from HK. No, I've seen char siu in large cubes and small dice and even minced in baozi.